Upcoming event
FCC to Hold April 2020 Open Commission Meeting by Teleconference
The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Thursday, April 23, 2020, which is scheduled to commence at 10:30 am. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and related agency telework and headquarters access policies, this meeting will be in a wholly electronic format and will be open to the public on the Internet via live feed from the FCC’s web page at www.fcc.gov/live and on the FCC’s YouTube channel.
The committee will consider a recommendation from its Truth-in-Billing Working Group
This free webinar will provide an overview of the adopted policy framework for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction (Auction 904), the proposed procedures for applications and bidding in the auction, and tips for service providers that are interested in applying to participate in the auction. Additionally, the webinar will focus on opportunities for small businesses to participate and win funding in Auction 904.
A live video discussion with policy research leaders and inclusive ecosystem executives on the future of Black business ecosystems as broadband policy and funding evolves amid the pandemic.
We’ll discuss research and efforts in place supporting policy work on the ground and what types of efforts cities are putting forth to mitigate barriers to access.
Rural service providers continue to deploy broadband solutions and work to close the digital divide, developing strong local partnerships and sustainable business models. Please join BroadbandUSA for its April webinar on broadband topics of interest, which features three providers that utilize different technologies to bring broadband solutions to their rural communities.
New research by an MIT Sloan expert measures the roles of income and the diffusion of high-speed Internet on people's ability to self-isolate during a global pandemic.
Catherine Tucker, the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT Sloan, will discuss her new study, Social Distancing, Internet Access and Inequality, with TPI President and Senior Fellow Scott Wallsten.
The research casts a wide net, tracking 20 million mobile devices and their movements across physical locations, and whether they leave their homes that day.
WiFi, crunched by coronavirus, is set for a boost
With the coronavirus pandemic binding Americans to their home internet service, policymakers are moving to bolster the WiFi networks those homes use. WiFi use has already been exploding as consumers connect more devices to their home broadband networks, a trend that's only accelerated with the coronavirus. Yet it's been years since the spectrum dedicated to carrying that load has been expanded. The Federal Communications Commission is expected to approve a plan to augment WiFi capacity. The changes the FCC has in store for WiFi won't be immediate.
This meeting will be conducted in an electronic format and open to the public via audio teleconference (866–652–3435 participant code 28570198).
Last year, the D.C. Circuit issued its opinion in Mozilla v. Federal Communications Commission in which the court largely upheld the Commission’s 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order that reversed the Obama Administration’s 2015 decision to apply common carrier regulation to the Internet. While the court upheld the bulk of the agency’s actions as reasonable under the Supreme Court’s rulings in Chevron and Brand X, the court also found that the agency lacked plenary preemption authority over state efforts to regulate the Internet under the FCC’s theory of the case.
In the U.S. and Canada, rural and remote areas are the hardest to reach and most under-connected. Native communities face unique barriers for connecting to the Internet, which is a powerful tool to preserve cultures and languages; devices and apps can offer local languages, and community members can create their own cultural content. The panel will explore how Internet access can protect native cultures and community engagement can foster connectivity.